Tuesday, April 26, 2011

TUSD Board Forced To Cancel Meeting

A group of Mexican-American Studies supporters rushed into the TUSD Board's meeting room and chained themselves to the dais before a planned public hearing, forcing the TUSD governing board to cancel tonight's school board meeting to discuss the future of the controversial ethnic-studies program.

The board's small hearing room was jammed with backers of Mexican-American Studies, who spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of district's headquarters at 1010 E. 10th St.

TW staff writer Mari Herreras was inside the meeting room and will have more details on the meeting, where the board was set to consider a proposal by board member Mark Stegeman to turn some of the classes into electives rather than have them fulfill the basic core curriculum requirements.

But here's a question for the TUSD board: Surely, you knew that the topic was going to draw a huge crowd that would not fit into the tiny meeting room at 1010 E. 10th St. Why on earth didn't you move the meeting to the auditorium at Tucson High or another larger meeting space?

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